Local forecaster victim of bogus MySpace page

Police confident of finding culprit

Police confident of finding culprit

SOUTH BEND Â? Police say theyÂ?re hot on the trail of a computer hacker who recently created a bogus Web page with sexually explicit material, purportedly for a local weather forecaster.

A viewer alerted WSBT-TV forecaster Rick Mecklenburg this week that a page with his photo had been posted on the popular site MySpace.com, along with an offensive profile.

Â?We were mortified,Â? Mecklenburg said Thursday. Â?It was pretty profane. There was nothing funny about it.Â?

MySpace.com is a social networking Web site that allows members to create a profile revealing as much or as little about themselves as they want. An e-mail address and photo are usually attached, and various friends can be included in a Â?buddy list.Â?

The creator of MecklenburgÂ?s fictitious profile lifted the forecasterÂ?s photo from the WSBT Web site and alleged that Mecklenburg enjoyed sexual relations with young girls.

An e-mail was then sent out to other MySpace members from someone posing as Mecklenburg, asking them to check out the site.

Â?Hello, I'm Rick,Â? the e-mail read. Â?IÂ?m on TV every night. I'm kind of a celebrity around here. I was wondering if you wanted to be friends, or maybe more.Â?

As soon as South Bend resident Sara Burdue received one of the e-mails, she knew it wasnÂ?t Mecklenburg.

Â?I was like, Â?No way, this canÂ?t be right,Â? Â? she said.

Although Burdue doesnÂ?t know Mecklenburg personally, she quickly e-mailed him the site with the forwarded link. She also e-mailed others who may have received the e-mail, telling them it was bogus.

Â?ThereÂ?s a lot of hackers out there,Â? she said. Â?They can do anything they want.Â?

John Mann, WSBT-TV president and general manager, said he and the rest of the station were shocked by the siteÂ?s content.

Â?RickÂ?s character is being assassinated here,Â? Mann said Friday. Â?I canÂ?t imagine who would profit from smearing Rick Mecklenburg. ItÂ?s beyond me.Â?

After failing to make much progress by contacting MySpace officials, Mann said a station representative called South Bend police.

Capt. Phil Trent was then able to reach the law enforcement section of MySpace, a special division set up to deal with police-related site problems.

Within 35 minutes, the page was pulled from the Web site, Trent said Friday.

MySpace officials have since frozen all data used in creating the profile and are in the process of determining the author.

Â?ItÂ?s very possible that we can catch the person,Â? Trent said. People Â?should know when they use a computer, theyÂ?re sending traceable information.Â?

Mann was delighted to hear about authorities closing in on a culprit and said the station plans to pursue the case.

Once a suspect is found, a prosecutor would decide if the offense falls under defamation of character, which can be handled through civil rather than criminal court, Trent said.

ThereÂ?s no telling how many people actually saw the site, but Mann said the page was likely up for one day, possibly two days.

Mecklenburg said he has no idea who would have wanted to tarnish his name and called the profile Â?damning.Â?

Without BurdueÂ?s help, he would have never known the page was up, he said, considering he isnÂ?t familiar with MySpace.com.

Â?I canÂ?t thank her enough,Â? he said.

WSBT-TV is owned by Schurz Communications, which also owns The Tribune.